Treachery
by AmazingGraceless
Summary: Pansy Parkinson betrayed Hogwarts. In only one timeline, of the many of the universe, does she pay for this with her life.


**AN: For QFL, Round 10. Kill off a character who survived the Battle of Hogwarts: Pansy Parkinson. 1,033 words. For those wondering why I have not been active, I've been writing on Wattpad, same username. Feel free to check it out.**

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There are points in history, seconds in time where it can change. Timelines diverge, based off of these points where all universes come together. One of these fateful times was that of the Battle of Hogwarts.

Many versions of it exists— some live and some die, and still other things in-between happen. A rumor says that there are a one-thousand four-hundred and twenty-six versions of the Battle of Hogwarts.

This is the one timeline where Pansy Parkinson dies.

It begins with her declaration. Snape has been expelled as Headmaster of Hogwarts. McGonagall has taken charge. The Dark Lord has made his demands.

"He's right there," Pansy shouts, pointing straight at her classmate. "Someone grab him!"

But no one does.

Some say that she should not be blamed for her suggestion. She is, after all, a child. Seventeen is a child in the grander scheme of things, and in muggle law, even if it is the mark of an adult in the laws of magic.

She is a child, and should not be held responsible for selling out her classmate.

But if she is a child, we must be forced to understand that Harry Potter is a child as well. After all, they are the same age, in the same year. Even if their shared experiences were not pleasant for either, they did share seven years together. That must count for something.

She is selling out a child, and someone who is supposed to be her peer, part of her school.

Does it make it excusable, that she is a child— but not really— to bring deliberate harm and evil upon other children she grew up with, to save her own skin?

Never mind that by virtue of her blood— a game of chance, a million coin tosses where she got Heads every time— and the profession of her parents as members of the Dark Lord's ranks, her salvation was assured, guaranteed, even.

Ignorance cannot be argued either, in this instance. She spent her entire year flaunting her connections to the great evils of their world, taking joy in torturing other students, in letting muggle-borns be rounded up.

She let evil happen— and was willing to do it again, and for a selfish reason.

Harry would later forgive her— he is capable of great acts of forgiveness, as exampled by the poor child who bears the name Albus Severus Potter.

Professor McGonagall would rather not take to task a child— in her eyes, for all in the school who are younger than her, including some of the professors are children— for treachery in trying times such as these. There are other priorities.

She is ready to dismiss everyone in Slytherin. It is best to leave no room for further treachery on the battlefield. Pansy is supposed to be an example of Slytherin. She is Prefect, and because of Snape and the Carrows, Head Girl. Everyone will follow her example.

And that cannot be allowed.

Before this can happen, the timeline splinters to allow for one change, one significant difference.

All of the others turn.

First the Gryffindors, who lived and ate and learned with Harry Potter. Who are his family, his inheritance. They are knights in their souls and while they may not know the cleverest spells, they know how to use the ones they have to do the most damage, to create the greatest impact.

Then turn the Ravenclaws, who have met him through little energetic Luna Lovegood. They know that he is good, and that even if the smart thing to do would be to side with the Dark Lord, that is not in the nature of a Ravenclaw. Rather, they have the wisdom to have hearts that would not betray those who have done nothing malignant. Nothing deserving of evil.

Besides, wisdom means having the experience and faith that Harry Potter will deliver them from the likes of Lord Voldemort. He is Chosen after all.

They know a great many spells and have invented a few of their own. Their eyes are like the eagle, and they are on the hunt for the treacherous ones.

Hufflepuff is next, shielding the others with their bodies. They are loyal to those who deserve it, to those who preserve what little good is in our dark world. They have practiced a great many spells and charms and through sheer patience will win, with little good deeds to temper the great sacrifices of those in Gryffindor.

What surprises Pansy Parkinson is that Slytherin turns upon her.

They are not as gentle as the other Houses. While some side with her— children of Death Eaters who have no reason to change, to believe that they may be wrong— some don't. Like the Greengrass sisters, Theodore Nott, and to everyone's surprise, Draco Malfoy.

They have made their choices. The Slytherins know loyalty and fraternity. And most of all, many of them have come to realize that they are not their parents and never will be. That deep down, there is something good in all of them. Something they cannot ignore.

Unlike the other Houses, the Slytherins are ready to use all the dark arts they have learned from their parents' knees and the past school year to make the traitors pay.

Pansy opens her mouth to speak. Surely she can salvage this. Save her own skin. Her comrades behind her draw their wands.

They make a final attempt, a final stand.

But the entire might of Hogwarts stood against them.

By the time morning rose on May 2nd, 1998, Pansy Parkinson was among the dead lined up in the corridors. Where all of the dead would go, no one knew.

So many did not deserve to die. Some would argue that Pansy was among those who did not deserve such a violent, over-exaggerated end.

She did not. That much is true. No child deserves to die in a violent manner. It is a fact as much as the sky is blue at noon and the grass is green.

But Harry Potter did not deserve to die either.

Perhaps this is why the universe decided to spare her in all other variations.


End file.
